Vest Financial LLC Makes New $207,000 Investment in Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI)

Vest Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 2,723 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $207,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its position in Cogent Communications by 2,739.1% during the second quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 1,035,261 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $58,430,000 after acquiring an additional 998,796 shares in the last quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Cogent Communications by 500.1% during the 1st quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 1,051,568 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $68,699,000 after purchasing an additional 876,326 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in shares of Cogent Communications by 327.7% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 981,623 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $64,129,000 after purchasing an additional 752,133 shares during the period. M&G Plc purchased a new stake in Cogent Communications during the first quarter worth $27,942,000. Finally, Senator Investment Group LP grew its position in Cogent Communications by 83.0% during the first quarter. Senator Investment Group LP now owns 666,768 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $43,560,000 after buying an additional 302,365 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.45% of the company’s stock.

Cogent Communications Stock Performance

NASDAQ CCOI opened at $84.50 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43, a current ratio of 2.20 and a quick ratio of 2.20. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $74.44 and its 200-day simple moving average is $65.71. The company has a market cap of $4.14 billion, a PE ratio of 3.35 and a beta of 0.41. Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. has a 1-year low of $50.80 and a 1-year high of $86.00.

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 8th. The technology company reported ($0.68) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.27) by $0.59. Cogent Communications had a negative return on equity of 32.14% and a net margin of 4.26%. The company had revenue of $260.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $264.32 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($0.13) EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. will post -4.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cogent Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 22nd were paid a dividend of $0.985 per share. This represents a $3.94 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.66%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 22nd. This is a boost from Cogent Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. Cogent Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 15.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cogent Communications

In other news, CEO Dave Schaeffer sold 60,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.82, for a total transaction of $4,369,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 4,373,038 shares in the company, valued at $318,444,627.16. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Dave Schaeffer sold 60,000 shares of Cogent Communications stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.82, for a total transaction of $4,369,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 4,373,038 shares in the company, valued at approximately $318,444,627.16. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Lewis H. Ferguson sold 1,550 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.62, for a total value of $112,561.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 17,748 shares in the company, valued at $1,288,859.76. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 64,870 shares of company stock worth $4,716,057. Insiders own 11.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on CCOI shares. Bank of America downgraded shares of Cogent Communications from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $75.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 21st. Citigroup upped their price target on Cogent Communications from $70.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Cogent Communications from $70.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $74.00 price objective on shares of Cogent Communications in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Cogent Communications from $62.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $77.14.

Cogent Communications Company Profile

Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc, through its subsidiaries, provides high-speed Internet access, private network, and data center colocation space services in North America, Europe, Oceania, South America, and Africa. The company offers on-net Internet access and private network services to law firms, financial services firms, and advertising and marketing firms, as well as heath care providers, educational institutions and other professional services businesses, other Internet service providers, telephone companies, cable television companies, web hosting companies, media service providers, mobile phone operators, content delivery network companies, and commercial content and application service providers.